A steely look appeared in the eyes of Mercedes driver George Russell when Motorsport.com broached the subject: whether he made too many mistakes when under pressure to win Formula 1 races ? It’s raining outside – the Barcelona lawn has been soaked all day. Russell himself is a mix of dark and light: a huge black Mercedes jacket sits atop white trousers embroidered with an equally large logo. After he answered, the rain would stop – and would never return that weekend in Spain. Russell will erase the memory of twice losing positions at the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix and his clash with Oscar Piastri, after leading the first stage from pole position. He would have an impressive race in Spain, taking the lead by surprise, fighting fiercely with leaders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, then battling it out with teammate Lewis Hamilton in an internal contest. attractive Mercedes set.

He will lose but will do so calmly. Next time in Austria, he will be in the perfect position to take advantage when Verstappen and Norris collide – claiming his second GP win.
“I don’t have to answer to those people [saying I would break under pressure],” Russell began, before doing exactly that. “Because I focus on my work. I could drive a tenth of the speed slower for 70 laps in a row and I wouldn’t make a single mistake. “[In] 2022, I didn’t make a single mistake the entire season, but I wasn’t pushing myself the way I’m pushing myself now. And the way I push myself now has allowed me to pass my teammate eight times in nine races this season [is 9-2 in GP qualifying behind only Austria] and allowed me to get ahead of him. in most of these races. “I could run a tenth of my speed slower, not make a single mistake, and still finish third [in Canada], and it looked like a perfect race from the outside. But when I know I have a tenth on the table, I kick myself for not pushing myself to the limit.

“So people can say what they want. I am pushing myself to go above and beyond. And it might be a little overwhelming because I’m trying to…” Russell gradually weakened. At this point, it’s worth remembering that in an overall very solid 2022 campaign he beat Valtteri Bottas and Mick Schumacher en route to 14th in Singapore that year and his role in the crash The disaster got off to a dramatic start at Silverstone. Plus, in the context of the day’s topic, Singapore 2023 must be highlighted as another potential winning shot that ended in an error. This came as the Mercedes pair were chasing eventual winner Carlos Sainz and Norris at the time. Russell’s failure to overtake the latter even before his accident on the final lap was a key part of why many F1 observers wondered whether Hamilton could have won if he had been a Silver Arrows driver top that day or not.

But, back to Russell responding to his critics: “I feel like [I’ve had] three chances in 115 races to win. And trying to get it right then and there, like when I was a kid, racing in F2, F3, GP3, everything else, when I won the championship I just had to accept the result that was on the table. “If you win today, let’s win, if it’s P3, let’s win P3. If I’m in P3, I don’t drive too fast to try to win because I know to win the championship I just need to win points. “Yes, mistakes happen, that’s life. We all go through times when we make mistakes, but they happen when I’m pushing myself to go above and beyond, and I think I’m in that position now that I’m driving better than ever. time is over.” That has led to an 11-3 qualifying record [both sprint and all in 2024] against Hamilton in qualifying and a 26-point lead in the standings. Impressive, for a driver with 104 pole wins.

But what stands out this season is that Russell has been able to raise his level when needed in qualifying, or at least maintain better form against the sharp handling characteristics of the W15 on difficult Pirelli tyres. control. So is he satisfied with his performance against his illustrious team-mate in 2024? “Yes, I know that if this were a different era, I probably would have had eight pole positions this season and a few wins,” he replied, his steely determination now evident in Russell’s voice. “I have never been without confidence or satisfaction with myself. And maybe my driving in races would be a little bit different if I was fighting for a championship instead of one win in a race maybe in a season. “In the Canadian race, I pushed my limits because I felt this was my only chance to win, whereas if I were in a championship battle with Max, maybe I will say, ‘P2 is today’s result’.

“I accept that. And I need to reduce the risk/reward ratio [of my driving hard. Meanwhile, at this point in the race, those odds are turned all the way up because I want to get [another] win to my name. “That’s my mentality right now. To be honest, I don’t like driving like that because I want more stability like in 2022. But six years in [F1], I don’t feel satisfied when I consistently finish in the top five. “In 2022, I finished in the top five more than any other driver on the track [Russell had as many points finishes as Verstappen and Sergio Perez that year, with 20 points], but I like to finish in the top five. P6 in every race and two wins is better than finishing P5, P4, P3 in every race and not winning a race. “I hope that mentality can change next year, if we have a car that can fight for the championship.”
Specifically about the Canadian race, Russell said, “I’m a little hard on myself. When looking at the entire race, everyone made mistakes at certain points.

“Max went off track at Turn 1, losing three seconds,” Russell added. “[He] went off track again at Turn 3 when Logan [Sargeant] crashed, but the safety car came out. Lando went off track at Turn 1. “Obviously I turned off the engine when I was in front of Lando, that’s a 10cm error. The lap before I was next to the white line, that lap I was 10cm over. One small mistake, slightly bigger consequences. The biggest mistake was with Piastri, not being able to overtake [at the final chicane where the pair collided slightly]. “But I left thinking that of course I could have done it differently, but if I won that race and Lando didn’t, he would have said the same. Or if I win the race and Max doesn’t, he’ll say, ‘about this error there and this error here’. “It was just one of those races where you have to be at the finish line with the right tires to achieve the goal and I think the fact that in that race without the safety car, Lando could have won .

“He had the right [tire] pressure. I probably made the mistake of pumping my tires up to the grid because it was raining and we thought there would be more rain in 20 minutes. But it came in 40 minutes and that’s why we were so fast at first but then fell behind like a stone. “I think Max did something similar where we were both at each other’s pace. He could also argue that it was a huge missed opportunity for him. Sometimes, it’s is the way the cookie crumbles.” Now, with Mercedes unable to compete for the title for the third year in a row, Russell is looking ahead to the race where he will face the greatest pressure: the British GP. Domestic racing raises expectations, even if the high-speed nature of the Silverstone is less likely to motivate the W15 than the RB20 or MCL38, as shown by Barcelona. But Austria’s result is still fresh in F1’s minds.

Win or lose, rain or shine, Russell’s determination remains clear. Mistakes were borderline, but he had an impressive reply to those who said he crumbled under the pressure. And it all started back when he was a regular Mercedes driver and his one-off race as Hamilton’s replacement due to the seven-time world champion catching COVID. “I think in my F1 career so far I’ve had three chances of winning,” he explained. “Probably Bahrain 2020, which should have been a win, but that’s out of my control. Brazil [2022], and then Montreal. “If I consider Bahrain a victory, I think I will enjoy those moments when they come.”